And the initiative has been welcomed by the construction industry.
The two tertiary educators have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to support apprentices working and learning across the lower South Island.
The SIT and Otago Polytechnic previously conducted a successful pilot programme in 2023 trialling collaborative delivery across the southern South Island, which provided valuable insights into what the construction sector needed to support training apprentices.
Following changes in the sector, announced by Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds in April, both providers are now able to deliver work-based learning models that ensure learning is industry led and supports the communities they serve.
Otago Polytechnic industry training and innovation deputy executive director Mark Cartwright said the new collaboration aimed to provide a consistent approach for carpentry students, ensuring they received the same levels of training and support, irrespective of where they lived and worked.
Delivery of the programmes was also being adapted to ensure they provided maximum flexibility to suit the needs of employers while also providing the support individual students needed to successfully achieve their qualification.
Historically, the options for employers and apprentices have been limited and sometimes quite prescriptive around how they engage in apprenticeship training support outside the workplace.
However, the revised carpentry trades programmes would offer block courses, day release, night classes and online support to help apprentices on their learning journey, Mr Cartwright said.
Each institution would work with employers and their apprentices to implement the best learning plans, which would be reviewed at each quarterly site visit.
New Zealand Certified Builders’ Association Otago president Sasha Gray said it was a great initiative.
"Each tertiary organisation brings a different thing to the table.
"One may have a little bit more hands-on training, and the other may have a little bit more paperwork and more on-site stuff.
"I think it’s got to be a good thing to be able to do a combination of them all.
"And if we know that regardless of where they come from, they’re all coming out at the same level of training, then that’s a great thing for us."
Mr Cartwright said the new collaboration would help employers and apprentices choose how they engaged in off-job support to suit the business and learner needs, while providing reliable on-site, face-to-face visits to ensure learner progression was maintained, and employers were actively supported.
